Automated packaging has become a familiar art and a host of improvements have been made in the saving of manual labor, in careful handling to avoid damage of the good being packaged and in conservation of space, both to protect the packaged items from damage in shipment and to maximize economy in packaging materials. In the case of packaging tapered items, "nesting" of the items, i.e. packing them such that every other item is inverted has been proposed and savings in shipping, warehousing and space-related operations have been effected.
One area of operations where alternate-inverting or nesting of tapered objects can be particularly valuable is in connection with tapered, lidded containers of products such as food or other products subject to the risk of spillage or leakage if mishandling occurs. Available systems are generally costly and complex. Moreover, they lack the capacity to handle products sufficiently gently to avoid damage and spillage. Quite often, the major problem has been the dislodgment of lids from the containers during inversion operations. The present invention is concerned with apparatus capable of packaging tapered objects, particularly lidded containers of products such as food, gently and safely in nested arrangements.